How Jonathan Owens' Olympic break came together with the Bears: 'Everyone’s a gymnastics fan now'
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Most NFL players wouldn’t take five days off during the peak of job battles at training camp.
Then again, most NFL players aren’t Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens. The sixth-year backup is taking the time away to watch his wife, Simone Biles, compete for the U.S. gymnastics team at the Paris Olympics.
"Man, it’s crazy," Owens said. "It’s like everyone’s a gymnastics fan now. People are asking me questions, because you might be walking around the building and see a commercial with her up there, so it’s just crazy."
The support goes right up the ladder from the coaching staff to management. Owens’ trip has been in the works since he signed a two-year contract as a free agent in March.
"It was something me and my agent talked about when we went in and I signed with the team," said Owens, who signed with the Bears after a season with Green Bay. "The Olympics coming up and who my wife is, that was just something ... it was all respectful. We went to them and just asked, ‘We would really appreciate it if he could go and support his wife,’ and they were really cool about it.
"First-class organization. I just want to thank them so much even allowing me to go over and do that. I can’t wait to be able to support her, and I know my family and my wife, she really appreciates it."
Biles won the all-around gold medal and two other golds at the Rio Olympics in 2016, and she's a six-time world champion. She and the Americans are favored to win the team competition.
If Biles medals, it will be the third straight Summer Games in which a Bears player's family member won a medal. In 2021, Robert Quinn's sister Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won gold in the 100-meter hurdles for Puerto Rico. In 2016, Corey Cogdell-Unrein, the wife of Bears defensive end Mitch Unrein, won bronze in women's trap shooting.
Coach Matt Eberflus has no qualms about losing Owens for five days.
"Just because we respect the Olympics," Eberflus said. "That is a big deal. And he’s just supporting the one he loves the most.
"And I think that’s so cool that he gets to do that. We welcome that and it’s gonna be awesome. Go USA."
There apparently is no concern from teammates who are competing for jobs while Owens is allowed to leave camp. He’ll be gone from Monday night until Aug. 3.
"Guys are just being super supportive, you know?" Owens said. "It’s super dope. They’re asking, bring some souvenirs back. That’s what they’re asking."
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Owens and Biles married last year. This is his first chance to see Biles compete in person at the Olympics because the 2020 games were postponed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then there were no fans allowed at Tokyo venues.
"I was in training camp still, but I would wake up at like 4 or 5 in the morning before I had to go to practice so that I could see her events and everything," Owens said.
Owens will try to stay in touch with the Bears throughout his trip.
"The coaches are doing an amazing job," he said "So they’re gonna make sure — every meeting is recorded, so I’ll be getting all the meetings, all the installs and everything. So I won’t miss a beat. I’ll make sure I’m working out over there and make sure I come back in good shape."
Instead of waking up to watch his wife in the Olympics like last time, he plans to watch the Bears in the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 1 at Canton, Ohio, against Houston.
In Paris, he’ll be like any USA Gymnastics follower. He’ll be on the edge of his seat watching.
"Oh absolutely, because it’s the person you love most and you see them up there in a position where someone could get hurt, and you know, you care about her, so it’s always super nerve-wracking," he said. "Let’s say I’m on the field and she sees me hit somebody, or take a hard hit, or something. It’s like a gasp of air.
"So, like, when she’s on the floor or the beam, I just know how long you work for it and how much you put into it. So when you see someone out there, I don’t know, I can’t describe it. We’re just out there holding our breath."
The couple still has a house in Houston, where Biles trains. Owens played for the Texans earlier in his career. The plan is for Biles to join Owens in Chicago after a post-Olympics gymnastics tour for the U.S. team.
They’ve been apart while she was training and he left for training camp.
The thing he’s looking forward to most?
"Seeing her, man," he said. "I haven’t seen her in about three weeks now, so just seeing and just obviously, I’ve never been over to Paris so that’s pretty cool to say that I’ve been able to go.
"But just seeing her and being able to see her do her thing. That’s really what I’m happy for."
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